Message of support for the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) from Somaliland

To the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ),

I write to you today with deep respect and a firm belief in what you represent especially at this critical moment, which calls for clarity of position and steadfastness of voice.

The experience of the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) is not a passing detail, nor can it be reduced to narrow definitions or treated as a temporary phase. What you have built is a profound transformation in the role women play not only in the field of defense, but in shaping the very concepts of protection, organization, and social and political participation.

You have moved from being affected by conflict to actively redefining it. Your presence was not merely an entry into a closed space it was a reshaping of that space from within, opening new horizons for what power and responsibility can mean.

Today, amid ongoing transformations, a troubling stance has emerged in the refusal of the transitional government to recognize the presence of women within defense institutions. This refusal is not merely a political decision it reflects a persistent effort to reproduce systems that exclude women and treat their role as an expendable exception.

Yet, whatever form this refusal takes, it cannot erase a fundamental truth: you have proven that women’s presence in protection roles is not a marginal option, but a genuine necessity and that what you have built cannot simply be dismissed or ignored.

As many experiences around the world have shown, transitional periods often carry the risk of diminishing women’s roles after they have stood on the front lines. What is happening today is therefore not just a political challenge, but a real test of whether this reality can acknowledge what women have achieved.

What you have created cannot be contained so easily, because it was not superficial it is rooted in awareness, organization, and lived experience. Preserving it is not merely about defending existence; it is about defending a different model that must continue and evolve.

Dear all,

The question today is no longer whether women have a role, but rather: what is the nature of that role?

Is it a symbolic presence within existing systems? Or is it an active presence that reshapes those systems from within?What you represent today is the answer.

Your existence is not incidental, and what you have achieved is not a phase. You embody a real necessity for any future that seeks justice and stability.

I want to say this clearly: you are not facing this challenge alone. You have our full support and it will not be symbolic or fleeting. We will work to launch campaigns, create spaces for dialogue, and use every possible means to defend your right to continue and to be an integral part of any structure that is built.

My message to you: do not allow yourselves to be pushed back to the margins, nor let what you have built be diminished. What you have achieved deserves to be protected, developed, and sustained with strength.

Always with you, and with firm belief in what you represent,

Leila Jama
Writer and activist – Somaliland